Just John
by arry73
Summary: Knights don't always need armour to shine. Rescues work more than one way. Carter/OC. T for now! (side project, other story priority)
1. Chapter 1: 7 Kettles

**Don't know if there are very many people still reading E. R. stories but here I go. Just got really tired of looking for Carter/ OC tales. Hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter One – 7 Kettles**

"… My eyes are covered by the hands of my unborn kids

But my heart keeps watchin' through the skin of my eyelids

They say a watched pot won't ever boil

Well I closed my eyes and nothin' changed…"

– Arcade Fire

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"All right, how about we cooperate? You do something for me and I'll do something for you?" Nena sighed her greyish green eyes fixed on the hazel ones before her, clearly she was not getting through. "Come on kid, just give me a break…" she huffed. The six and a half month old infant in her arms, simply gargled and bubbled adorably, grinning at her from under the panda shaped hat covering his light brown hair "So not fair…" Nena mumbled. "Okay…" she took in a deep frosty breath of early December, Chicago air. Looking from the stroller on the busy evening sidewalk that needed to be folded up, to the open backseat door of the old burgundy car that she was borrowing with an empty car seat just waiting to be filled, and back to the baby, who was being angelic at the moment but was in the mood to scream his head off if she put him down or was out of his sights for two minutes.

'Arms' sore…'After a few moments of trying to figure out what to do, all Nena could figure out was that she was a big softie 'a damned softie…' she groaned letting her head loll back and her eyes fall shut.

"Toughen up…" Nena tried to steel herself against her mushy heart, but all her effort was lost when she heard the delight squeal of her son as his tiny fingers reached to explore her face. "Ugh!" she kicked the at the second-hand stroller's latch when she opened her eyes again "Know what tater tot?" Nena straightened up as the baby hands tugged playfully at her long sandy brown hair "… you're not helping…"

"Can I lend you a hand?" A male voice asked from the other side of the open backseat door, it was clear from the tone that whoever it was had a smile on their face.

Slightly breathless after jostling the stroller like a mad person, Nena was surprised that anyone had decided to approach her.

"I…" she started, but stopped when she raised her head to see eyes that were the kindest she had ever seen. That was the first thing she could say about them, the second was that they were coffee brown and belonged to a tall brown haired man with a scruffy chin.

As she took in more of his appearance Nena realized that the 'scruffy' aspect of his look was not limited to his facial hair, but extended to the hair on his head, the raggedy backpack slung over his left shoulder, the worn out trainers on his feet and the clothes visible under the long, open winter coat he was wearing… the coat was unremarkably black but it stuck out, most likely because it was clear to Nena that relative to the rest of his clothing, it was of very high quality.

"… would appreciate it…" Nena caught her senses and finished her elongated statement to the kind eyed man. She stepped away from the stroller allowing room for the man to crouch and give the tricky latch a try.

"I was watching from a ways back…" he gritted as he struggled with the stubborn pram. "Looked like quite the juggling act…"

"I bet…" Nena gave her son a weary pat on the back "should have put out a hat… see how much the show was worth…"

She heard an amused sound from the man. "So, is this thing evil or what?" he asked in frustration at the latch on the stroller not budging.

"Straight from second-hand hell…" Nena huffed, eying her son with accusation "All your fault, kid. Can't put you down for a sec, can I?" she feigned annoyance, nuzzling her nose against the giggling infant's soft cheeks.

"Well, if you wanna give it a more experienced try?" the scruffy man stood up straight and held out his arms as a signal for her to hand over her son. From this closer distance Nena could see both the tension that seemed to exist as an almost innate part his posture and the tiredness rimming his kind brown eyes as they studied her with a penetrating focus.

"Ah…" instead of being freaked out by his practically engrossed stare, Nena's grey eyes flicked from the man's outstretched arms to the stupid pram and back to her baby as she actually considered his offer. "He doesn't really take well to new people…" her voice trailed off as she witnessed the startling sight of her son actually reaching out and wanting to accept the hold of another person.

Kind eyes and uncharacteristically willing baby or no, she had to ignore her inexplicable instinct to trust the stranger, 'be responsible Nena.' She reminded herself to think and use the brain that her mother had invested in. "You're not gonna do anything Ted Bundy-ish when I bend over, are you?"

"Scout's honour" he pledged with a chuckle, raising three fingers in a right-handed salute. "Anyway don't I look normal?"

"The freakish ones always do…" she muttered, grasping on to her wriggling son, who seemed intent on reaching the man's arms "All right…" against all reason she handed her baby to the good-humoured man. With her back facing the inside of the backseat door Nena made sure to keep the man legs in sight in front of her as she worked on folding up the stroller.

"You know he looks like you."

As soon as the kind eyed man had said that Nena had wanted to leap right up and plant a kiss on him, however she managed to restrain the burst of joy to a simple jerk of her head that let her look up at the stranger. "Yeah, right…" Nena smiled, deciding that man must have been joking, her son was several skin tones darker than her and sported a healthy fro on his head, Nena had dealt with people assuming daily that he was adopted… and yet here was this man talking to her, insistent on making her day…

"Nah. Really," he gazed down at her with the utmost sincerity, all at once making Nena feel as though she were being weighed down by a tonne of bricks "… it's in the features… his eye shape, nose, and then when he smiles…" as the man listed off attributes, Nena was unable to keep her eyes from tracing a path across the stranger's own scruffy features. He moved his intense stare from hers to make a silly face at her son, causing the boy to squeak and giggle in his arms. "He's beautiful…" an odd distance overtook the man's voice.

"Keep it up and I'll fall in love" Nena responded with a teasing quip, rolling her greyish green eyes unsure of how to react to the sudden soreness in his tone. "Got it!" she grunted as the stroller latch suddenly snapped up and the item finally folded closed. Giggling a little Nena grinned up at the man, victorious. "Honestly in the mood to hi-five someone."

"You should be…" the man returned her sentiment, jiggling her son a bit "why were you giving your momma so much trouble, 'specially when you're being so helpful now huh? Um … ah…" he tailed off, looking at Nena for a name.

"Oh… it's ah, Jack…" she heaved out a breath as started to stand up "… well, John really."

"Rea…?" she heard him begin to ask, before something hard slammed into her back and everything went black.

* * *

"Carter! What the hell?"

"Shut up, Frank!" he shouted, distractedly trying to shush the howling baby in his arms, while telling Kovac what to order for the baby's mother as the rushed to Trauma 1. He had been right there and he couldn't believe it. A cyclist had slipped, skidded on some icy pavement and slammed into the door. After her victory over the stroller the woman had been getting up just as the cyclist collided with the door causing her to smack the top of her head against the roof of the car.

She didn't seem to be hurt to beyond being knocked out and bruised up. The baby quieted as he corrected his earlier description of the woman '…she's a mother too…' It was strange, now that the baby had stopped screaming he felt the actual weight of what had just happened. Not the accident, but the fact that he had panicked, or at least that he had experienced his own version of a panicked reaction, since checking the cyclist's vitals he hadn't even given a second thought to the biker. Keeping a cool head was second nature in the world of emergency medicine and that had gone out the window.

In the midst of checking her breathing, ordering a CT, X-rays and blood work Carter had lost himself in the same way he had seen other patients' family members lose themselves . He didn't really notice if people called him as he mindlessly followed her bed and made semi-convincing arguments as to why he was there. Most had to do with the woman's son, the pediatric nurses had tried taking the boy only to have the infant scream bloody murder and clutch at Carter.

He pointed out to the rest of the staff that the baby wanted his mother, and offered to take the child around the hospital for the woman's tests. Since they trusted 'the Dr. Carter', and were as always understaffed, with no space for a disruptive baby, the nurses agreed to let him go along. 'It's not only because of Joshua…' Carter looked at the little dark-skinned boy. 'Not Kem either…' he convinced himself while following the unconscious woman. 'I'm not watching or waiting for that anymore…'

The woman had woken up during her X-ray but with the disorientation typical of a substantial concussion her speech was slurred, and most of what she said didn't make sense beyond her worrying and asking for her son. Carter had been sure that she would have been in full blown panic if she had been in control of all of her facilities. But as it stood her drowsiness overtook her and she passed out again which was exactly how he wound up in observation, up on the second floor, with an unconscious woman he had barely met and her baby son. In the dark room his brown eyes were focused on the woman lying in a pool of yellow light, her brown hair spread out over the blue pillow behind her. Resisting the urge to tuck a stray strand of her soft-looking hair back behind her ear, he just stared at her resting form almost glowing in the light. Finally with a breath out he spoke gently "Nena…" his brown eyes ran over her features as he called her by the name on her chart. "I'm…"

The baby squirmed in his arms, drawing his attention back. "…so sorry…" he finished his statement, looking at the boy. He could not help but smile as the baby clapped and chewed on his little fingers, trailing salvia all over them. "Jack." He nodded at the boy chuckling when a newly slimy, tiny dark hand groped at his face. "Well, John really…" he went on, moving to the lounge chair in the corner of the room, deciding that boy might be too warm he took off Jack's hat and winter jacket after taking a seat. "I'm Doctor Carter." He stood the baby up on his lap, goofily making faces and smiling back at the boy's toothless grin "Well… Just John, really…"

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**Please let me know what you think. This is probably gonna be a pretty slow story, but just had to do it… guess just needed to get it out of my system for the time being. **


	2. Chapter 2: Walk of Life

**Hi! Hope everyone's doing well and no one is mad at me. It's too sunny to be mad anyway :) Sorry it took so long. Argh! Editing!**

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**Chapter Two – Walk of Life**

"…He do the song about the knife

He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes Johnny and he'll tell you the story…"

– Dire Straits

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"John!" Carter heard a harsh whisper in the darkness. "Carter! Get the hell up!" something prodded his left leg.

He didn't need any reminding of where he was, if the warm lump securely in his grip and resting against his chest wasn't enough then the years of waking up in the on-call room were. He was alert and familiar enough with where he was to recognize the annoyed voice of Dr. Weaver and the poking of what had to be her crutch.

'Leave me alone…' he soothingly rubbed the back of the sleeping infant in his arms not wanting to get up just yet. Nonetheless, already knowing that Weaver would not go away, with a deep intake of breath Carter forced himself awake.

"Carter" he felt Weaver's crutch again as she angrily whispered at him. Between the dim lamp light above the hospital bed and the hall light pouring in through the open door behind Weaver, Carter could see that Nena was still asleep. Judging by the time on the clock on her monitor it had only been two hours since he had dozed off… 'Great.'

"John! What did you think you were doing?" Weaver went on from the door in a low voice, clearly her aggravation could not wait.

"She was hurt and the baby…" John's brown eyes fell down to the little boy snuggling into his chest.

"And you're not family nor are you working. Put the baby down and get your ass out here before you get sued…"

"You care if I get sued?" He replied, finding her anger funny, as he stood up slowly and moved towards the cot that had been brought in for Jack.

"Now you might as well bank a vacation day…" he heard her scoff, as he occupied himself with the baby "Did you go spontaneously deaf? Either you're working or gone."

Evidently Weaver had no idea he had stayed six extra hours on his shift. He had been leaving the hospital when the accident happened and now she was asking him to work on his day off.

"John! In or out?"

Carter looked from Jack to the sleeping woman in the hospital bed, "In…"

"Hurry up then."

"Okay, Kerry. Just give me a sec…" He was close to the head of the bed now, as he cradled the baby John found himself not wanting to let go. Sniffing the boy's uniquely baby scented afro Carter reluctantly set him down to rest in the cot by the head of the bed.

The baby squirmed a little, but settled… "You're all right little man." Carter smiled, before turning to face Jack's mother. Moving nearer to her, once again resisting the urge to move a wayward strand of her dark hair from her light brown face, he spoke "Don't worry, you and your son will be fine."

He began to turn to walk away when the woman mumbled "Don't leave…" Carter glanced over his shoulder to see she was still sleeping as she talked "cheese on potato…" and with that she nodded off back to sleep.

Carter shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck and rolling his shoulders as he prepared to go back into the fray.

* * *

"How is it you always end up here on your days off?" Abby had asked when she saw him still there dressed in scrubs. Luka had gone home and Susan had called in sick, making John the only attending besides Weaver on.

"It's the food…" Carter joked. He wasn't one to whine, especially when he had chosen to be there under such peculiar circumstances. A part of him didn't even want to admit to himself that he was frightened of Weaver finding out how many hours he had really been up, he didn't want to lose access to the girl and boy upstairs.

'I can do this.' A trauma burst through triage. 'Just like being in my 20s again.' He shook his head and got to work.

* * *

"Carter!" A Spanish accented voice called as his patient was wheeled from trauma one to the elevator to head for the O. R.

"What is it Chuni?"

"That girl you brought in…" Carter snapped into full attention, he hadn't left her for more than an hour and his mind ran rampant with what could have wrong since then.

"What? What is it?"

"Nothing. Just thought you'd wanna know some people came to look for her…" the long-serving E.R. nurse shrugged at him.

"Right…" John looked around the dimly lit hall, noting that it was about midnight "Pretty late…"

"They were from your crowd Carter…"

"What?" he turned back to ask Chuni, his confusion clear on his face.

"Dressed up fancy…"Chuni offered teasingly. "They just went up."

"Thanks…" John smiled at her, heading toward the elevators "I'm gone take a quick break. Page me if you need me."

By the time he had gotten up to her softly lit room the people Chuni had been talking about seemed to have just gotten to Nena's room as well.

He could see what Chuni had meant… there was a beefy middle-aged man in a tux and a heavy winter coat, standing next to a thin nervous looking woman in an evening gown, who was also covered up for the cold weather.

Carter couldn't keep from making note of the fact that neither the man nor the woman looked to be East Indian like Nena's skin colour and features seemed to suggest.

"George… look at her…" he heard the woman speak softly.

"Yeah…" the man, apparently called George, flinched when he noticed John standing quietly at the door "Are you her doctor?"

"Ah…" Carter tugged at stethoscope around his neck, hoping to slide right past that question. "She's had a hit to the head and has been feeling the effects of a concussion for the better part of four hours. But she's…"

"So she'll be all right?" the man asked in an abrupt manner.

"Just a few more hours of sleep and observation in case but yeah… it seems that way and Jac…"

The man interrupted again, "Typical…." he looked down at the woman who looked to be his date, with an annoyed expression on his face "You see that Grace? We left the museum for no reason…" he began trying to hustle the nervous woman out of the room passed Carter.

"I'm sorry but you can't just leave." John tried to keep them from leaving.

"Why not? You just said she'll be fine…" George gruffly stated.

"Yes, but she's still in the hospital."

"That's her problem." George pulled his startled looking date out of the room towards the elevators.

It took Carter a moment to react, "Excuse me?" He called in disbelief, rushing to follow them as the man pressed the call button for the elevator. "What do you think you're doing?" John asked, pulling at George's shoulder to make the older man turn to face him.

"Think whatever you like but my step-sister" the man yanked himself away from Carter roughly "she made her own choices…" the elevator dinged opened, the man walked in and turned looking expectantly at the woman who was wearing a torn expression on her face as she looked between her date and John.

Staying silent Carter waited, as the woman opened her mouth to speak in a meek voice "Tell her the baby is beaut…"

"Grace!" the man urged, causing the woman to practically jump in surprise and scurry into the elevator car.

"I'm sorry…" the shaky voiced woman spoke as the doors slid close, leaving John to gape and look around for another witness to what had just happened.

But given the time, halls were pretty much barren. "Fantastic." Carter muttered, wearily raking his fingers back through his hair, rubbing the beard on his chin that was now starting to get scraggily. Turning on his heel, he went back into her room, feeling oddly abandoned on her behalf.

* * *

Nena eyes snapped open. Blinking up at the ceiling of the dimly lit room, taking in the florescent light fixtures and the steady beep of a heart monitor, it didn't take long for her to realize that she was in a hospital. 'Jack!' Her heart began racing, at the sound of baby gurgling Nena's head quickly turned to her left to see a cot directly in her eye line. Ignoring the pain at the crown of her head she sat up, holding back a groan.

She stopped for a moment when she saw that her left hand was clasped in the warm grip of a brown-haired man's hand. His head lay resting on the bed next to her thigh while the rest of him was sat up in an uncomfortable looking chair next to the bed. Judging by his scrubs, despite the fact she couldn't really see his face she guessed that he was the guy from the street 'what was his name?...' she looked at him and resisted the urge to stroke his hair.

All of those thoughts took no more than a second and ultimately ended with Nena wanting to get to her son. She didn't care about this stranger, or anything else but her son. She began to get out the bed, but was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness.

She squeezed the hand that she hadn't fully let go of. 'Whoa!' she broke out into a cold sweat, and felt her stomach churn.

"Just breathe, and rest back…" the man's spoke behind her, clearly having woken at her panicked grip.

Nena simply nodded, taking some deep inhales and moving to sit up against her pillow.

"Follow the light" she heard just as a bright bulb moved before both of her eyes. "Good, good…" he muttered, pocketing the small flashlight and looking at the heart monitor while Nena blinked spots out of her eyes.

"My John…" she began, stopping when the man's gaze turned to her "I mean my baby, Jack" she corrected herself…

"Right." stated the man who she was now absolutely certain was a doctor. He moved to the cot and lifted her son out of it.

Nena felt a crash of relief as soon as her little boy was in her grasp, kissing all the parts of his waking face that she could "Is he all right?" she asked her gaze not lifting from her son.

"He's fine… maybe a little hungry…" the man's voice was nearer, she was vaguely aware of him moving over her to look at her baby.

"What happened?" Nena finally asked.

"A cyclist hit the door of your car and you hit your head on the doorframe. You've had a concussion for the past eight hours…"

"Eight hours…" Nena smiled at her son's gurgling, though her tone was not light "And the cyclist?"

"Scrapes and bruises… I think… there might have been a broken limb." She could see the man's arms move out the corner of her eye as he shrugged.

"Nothing awful. That's good at least." After a short pause she went on "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saving my son."

"I didn't…"

"You did" she cut him off, staring up at him, her eyes determinedly staring up at him. His fingers ran back through his shaggy brown hair as he slowly began to nod, Nena noticed that his face was wearing a scruffier beard than she remembered, his movements were more tired and his eyes were much more weary, but they remained the kindest and warmest she had ever seen.

"You're very welcome" he rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Jack with a soft smile "He's awesome company…"

"Yeah." She grinned back turning to Jack again "I think he's pretty cool" she playful bit at the hands Jack was lifting to her face "Aren't you?" she teased as Jack giggled. Nena kept her face turned towards her son as she asked the doctor. "Do you have any idea how long we'll be here?"

"You'll probably be all right to go tomorrow, though you'll have to ask your doctor…"

"Aren't you my doctor?" Nena frowned staring up at the stranger again.

He shook his head "Um… do you have someone that can get you?"

Nena's greyish green gaze quickly fell back down.

"There was a couple here earlier…" the man trailed off, obviously uncomfortable and unsure of how to address the situation.

"George…" Nena huffed, jiggling Jack as he became restless for a feeding.

"Ah, yeah." The doctor confirmed. "And his…"

"Wife." Nena finished for him, as Jack started whimpering. "I'd better feed him." She stated trying to calm her son "Is that safe?" she asked the doctor.

"Should be fine" He answered. "I'll give you some privacy…" the man started walking towards the door.

For some reason Nena wanted to call out for him to stay with them. Instead she managed to control the impulse and say "Thank you Doctor."

The tired looking man turned keeping his hand on the door that he had just opened, "No need for that Nena." She felt an odd tingle run down her spine, assuming that he must have seen her name somewhere on a hospital form, she watched him from her place on the bed in the middle of the room. The yellow light of hall the made it all the more clear how exhausted he really was, as he went on with his kind smile "… and it's John. John Carter." He introduced himself properly, his smile unmoving before he left her with her son, closing the door behind him.

A silence hung in the dim room for some time, Nena eyes eventually went to her son as her surprise wore off, "Carter… the John Carter…" she mumbled, giving her baby boy a silly face to giggle at. "How about just John instead?"

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**Again sorry for taking so long! I hope the next gap won't be so big. Let me know what you think.**


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